[Updated] AMD Attacks Nvidia GeForce Partner Program In New Blog

We believe that freedom of choice in PC gaming isn’t a privilege. It’s a right. ~ Scott Herkelman, General Manager of Gaming at AMD

AMD and Asus have formally revealed the existence of an AREZ series of Radeon-only graphics cards, all but confirming that Asus has aligned its successful gaming brand (Republic of Gamers) with Nvidia's GeForce Partner Program. It's worthy news that I'll cover separately. Because that's not nearly the most interesting thing about what AMD is communicating to press and gamers today.

"Freedom of Choice" is the title of a bold blog published by AMD.

AMD

We knew these AREZ cards were coming weeks ago. What caught my attention is that AMD not-so-subtly broke their silence on the GeForce Partner Program via both an email to press and a blog penned by Scott Herkelman, General Manager of Gaming at AMD -- and a former marketing executive at Nvidia.

Herkelman's blog is aggressive and passionate, taking shots at Nvidia's G-Sync solution and the GeForce Partner Program. To say these are fighting words would be an understatement. Before you dismiss this as marketing drivel, it's important to know Herkelman's history, and Kyle Bennett from HardOCP just published an excellent piece detailing his background.

"Freedom of choice is the staple of PC gaming," Herkelman begins.

"The freedom to tell others in the industry that they won’t be boxed in to choosing proprietary solutions that come bundled with 'gamer taxes' just to enjoy great experiences they should rightfully have access to," he continues. "Through industry standards like AMD FreeSync technology, we’re providing the PC ecosystem with technologies that significantly enhance gamers’ experiences, enabling partners to adopt them at no cost to consumers, rather than penalizing gamers with proprietary technology 'taxes' and limiting their choice in displays."

In this paragraph Herkelman is carpet bombing many aspects of Nvidia's business. Primarily G-Sync monitors, which cost considerably more than their FreeSync counterparts because of closed standards and proprietary modules that must be installed in the G-Sync monitors. There's no debate here: Nvidia did it first, but AMD has won the variable refresh rate game with open standards, HDR support, cheaper prices and even console adoption.

It's also a jab at Nvidia GameWorks, the company's library of admittedly fantastic graphics technologies that, more often than not, penalize gamers who aren't running GeForce cards.

Finally, Herkelman hits the big target Nvidia has painted on its back.

"We work closely with all our AIB partners, so that our customers are empowered with the best, high-performance, high quality gaming products and technologies available from AMD," he writes. "No anti-gamer / anti-competitive strings attached."

While not mentioned by name, this is a very transparent attack on Nvidia's not-so-transparent program, which allegedly pressures board partners into joining by promising marketing funds, extended promotional support and premium allocation of GPUs -- and revokes them for non-partners. I'll remind my readers that none of that is confirmed, but until Nvidia informs their community which partners are on board, and proves that these allegations are false, they're doing more damage than good to their reputation.

The Asus AREZ family will be a new brand for Radeon RX cards.

ASUS

To put it another way, show a modicum of transparency, which is a pillar the GPP is supposedly built upon.

As for Herkelman's post, it's a really interesting development. It's rare to see AMD go on the offensive like this, but it's overdue. And at this point it's required. AMD's back is against the wall with pressure from both GPP and lack of a high-end GPU to compete with Nvidia's upcoming Turing lineup later this year. An appeal to the community is a smart move, but they need to do more.

The blog also holds a tantalizing piece of info regarding the future of AMD Radeon graphics cards.

"Over the coming weeks, you can expect to see our add-in board partners launch new brands that carry an AMD Radeon product," Herkelman says. "AMD is pledging to reignite this freedom of choice when gamers choose an AMD Radeon RX graphics card."

Will other companies like Gigabyte and MSI also launch Radeon-specific gaming brands to follow in the footsteps of AsRock and Asus? If so, will AMD share the details of those partnerships? Are these multiple partners launching new brands because their existing ones have been claimed by Nvidia?

I'll stay on top of all of this, but in the meantime it proves one thing: The GeForce Partner Program is very, very real and it's clearly having an impact.